Five movies in and the “Resident Evil” series hasn’t gotten any more coherent, but I guess it hasn’t gotten any less coherent either, so points for consistency, I guess.

“Resident Evil: Retribution,” the latest in the arbitrarily subtitled series, rejoins the laborious franchise following the nefarious Umbrella Corp. and the accidental release of a weaponized virus that has reduced much of the population of the planet to zombified mutants. Only Alice (Milla Jovovich) can stand up to Umbrella, the zombie forces and so forth, which she does here by infiltrating an underwater training facility home to clones of not only herself, but characters from films past (including Michelle Rodriguez and Oded Fehr).

Through massive cityscapes and reconstructed training facilities, Alice and co. fight monsters. That’s about it; the nuances of “Resident Evil: Retribution” sadly blend with the other four equally bewildering movies, which proves that you can, indeed, basically run in place for five straight movies and people will still pay to see it. At least Jovovich keeps drawing a paycheck. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE”

Clint Eastwood returns to being in front of the camera, instead of exclusively behind it, with “Trouble with the Curve,” the first film he’s starred in since 2008’s “Gran Torino” and the first film he’s starred in that he did not also direct since 1993’s “In the Line of Fire.” The director, Robert Lorenz, is Eastwood’s long-time assistant director and producer, and you can tell. So, when you get down to it, “Trouble with the Curve” is an Eastwood film in every meaningful stylistic sense, just without a directorial credit.

Your mileage may vary as to whether that’s a good thing; it’s so unobtrusive as to make no difference for me, to be honest. You come for Eastwood being gruff and co-stars Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake being amiable in a fairly formulaic piece that never coalesces. But there’s no better purpose for “Trouble with the Curve” than to throw it on during a holiday gathering and watch something that won’t offend any member of your family.

Eastwood stars as a long-time scout for Major League Baseball whose eyesight is fading; he enlists his semi-estranged, hard-working lawyer daughter (Adams) to scout a pitcher. She starts a dalliance with another scout (Timberlake) as father and daughter reconcile and come to terms with a life lived around the baseball diamond. It flirts with darkness, but doesn’t go there. Its ending is pat, but not unpleasant. In baseball terms, it’s a solid base hit, I guess. $28.98 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“PITCH PERFECT”

The delightful “Pitch Perfect” is one of the most pleasant surprises of 2012, far funnier than I expected and appealingly cleverer than what could have been the “Glee” knockoff everyone feared. “Pitch Perfect” is anchored by strong work from Anna Kendrick, but a lot of the appeal comes from the supporting cast, featuring a thunderously funny performance from Rebel Wilson, reminiscent of the breakout performance from her “Bridesmaids” co-star Melissa McCarthy, if clearly not quite as popular with audiences. (She’ll get there.)

“Pitch Perfect” follows a women’s university a cappella group stuck in the past with its arrangements and mired in the shadow of the arrogant men’s a cappella group it is constantly in competition with. Kendrick plays Beca, a freshman loner drawn toward the college radio station but reluctantly roped in by the group’s two leaders (Anna Camp and Brittany Snow), who draw together their group of misfits, including Fat Amy (Wilson) and a number of other comical sorts, and finally approach something close to being ­competition-ready.

Meanwhile, Beca is drawn to Jesse (Skylar Astin), a member of the dreaded competing group. Sure, that’s a touch formulaic, if that bugs you, and it usually would bug me, but the jokes are funny and performance scenes are entertaining. What more could you want out of “Pitch Perfect?” $29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray.

“TOTAL RECALL”

It’s hard to think of a more useless remake in recent memory than “Total Recall,” which strips the character away from Paul Verhoeven’s (admittedly silly) adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” and reduces it to distended, anonymous modern action garbage. “Total Recall” may not be the worst film of 2012, but it’s certainly the least essential, and you will gain nothing from watching it even if you haven’t seen Verhoeven’s film. And if you do decide to watch it, I hope you can endure it, particularly in this “extended cut” the Blu-ray threatens to unleash upon us all.

Colin Farrell stars as Quaid, a factory worker living in a dystopic Earth, in which the haves live in Britain and the have-nots live in Australia, the two remaining inhabitable spots on the planet and accessible to one another via a massive elevator that travels through the planet’s core. (That’s already a ton of boring setup that ends up not really being important.)

Quaid seeks a respite from his life, so he seeks out Rekall, a company that implants false memories into the human brain so you can have memories of a vacation or adventure without actually experiencing them. But something happens during the procedure, and Quaid discovers his name is Hauser, he is a spy for a resistance group and his wife (Kate Beckinsale) is actually an enemy spy sent to guard him.

He heads out on the run, determined to find out which version of reality is real, through unimaginative cityscapes that crib from “Blade Runner,” “Minority Report” and, well, the original “Total Recall,” over the course of an unimaginably long running time that couldn’t be any more repetitive. It’s ironic that “Total Recall” ends up being something so obviously familiar. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“PREMIUM RUSH”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt may feature in his fair share of serious-minded films this year, among them “Looper,” “Lincoln” and “The Dark Knight Rises” (as serious a film about Batman as you’ll ever see, anyway), but he breaks that mold, such as it is, with “Premium Rush,” which is for all intents and purposes a live-action cartoon, and I sincerely mean that as a compliment.

A lot of people often talk about wanting to “turn their brain off” when watching a movie. I don’t like that phrase, but I get the impulse. I find myself drawn to movies that will allow you to “turn your brain off” without, well, without actually doing that, and this is one such film, which is nothing but propulsive action, but clever, tongue-in-cheek, funny and with a sense of style that’s a bit different from films of its type. So even if it’s kind of dumb — and it certainly is — it’s presented by smart people who know it’s dumb and know what they’re doing with it.

Gordon-Levitt stars as Wilee (like the coyote), a bike messenger in Manhattan who speeds up and down the island day in and day out carrying messages. One such cargo draws the attention of a crooked cop (Michael Shannon, hamming it up), and the chase begins. There are complications, of course, but otherwise “Premium Rush” is what the title promises, a breath of adrenaline-fueled, unpretentious fresh air. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS”

A third film in the children’s farce series is a film too far, as this chapter in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise, based on a very popular series of books, isn’t as successful at mining laughs out of the awkward adolescence of its pretty unlikable young protagonist, Greg Heffley.

In fact, young Greg finds himself mired in increasingly difficult situations in “Dog Days,” set during a summer vacation in which he has to contend with the expectations of his parents (Steve Zahn and Racheal Harris, thanklessly reprising their roles), his goofy friend (Robert Capron) who can get him into an exclusive country club and the girl (Peyton List) he has a crush on.

All Greg wants to do is sit around all summer and play video games, but needless to say, happenstance prevents this from ever being successful, with a disastrous trip to an amusement park, an alienating encounter with his friend’s parents and one swimming pool mishap after another.

Of course, Greg doesn’t seem to do himself any favors, coming across as self-centered and annoying more often than not, but he’s inevitably punished for it, which makes it kind of a cautionary tale, albeit a shrill one without many genuine laughs in its episodic, sitcom structure. $29.98 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“KILLER JOE”

Saddled with an NC-17 rating and coming from a director with a tendency to stare unflinchingly at brutality, William Friedkin’s “Killer Joe” is a bleak, hilarious dark comedy that almost no one saw, which might be for all the better. Should your sensibilities line up with this film’s (and, subsequently, my) dark sense of humor, you’ll probably enjoy it a great deal.

Based on a play by Tracy Letts, who also wrote this film’s screenplay, “Killer Joe” as a title refers to a police detective (Matthew McConaughey) who moonlights as a contract killer, if the price is right. He’s contacted by a young redneck, Chris (Emile Hirsch), who, with his idiotic father (Thomas Haden Church) and trashy stepmother (Gina Gershon), hires Joe to kill his mother for the insurance payout to pay off some other lowlifes he owes money to. Unfortunately, he won’t have enough to pay Joe until the deed is done, so Joe takes as a retainer Chris’s sister, Dottie (Juno Temple).

Things go predictably awry, erupting in a climax where “Killer Joe” earns its NC-17 rating with an intense scene of unsettling violence (and you will never look at fried chicken the same way again). Lest you think it’s constantly dark, the film is enlivened by Letts’ crackling dialogue and the pitch-black comedy (Church is the dumbest character you’ve seen in a film in a long time). McConaughey gives perhaps his best performance here ever, though, as paradoxically the character with the strongest moral compass in the whole film, despite being an insane hitman. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“ARBITRAGE”

In a year in which issues surrounding class and the very rich played a prominent role in discussions, a film like “Arbitrage” is well-timed, a twisty thriller following a morally dubious billionaire as he worms his way through a number of increasingly difficult situations. What’s more interesting is that, as portrayed by Richard Gere (in, no matter your opinion of the actor, what’s hard to deny is perfect casting), you kind of want him to get away with it.

Gere plays Robert Miller, a hedge fund manager on the verge of selling his company and presenting a very positive public front in order to do so, particularly as any scrutiny would reveal his books were cooked to present a more positive impression of his company’s worth and wealth. The sales value is worth far more than the actual value of the company, and he would most certainly be arrested for fraud if an audit were made public. The deal seems likely to be closed, though, and Miller seems likely to get away with it, but a sudden incident involving Miller’s mistress (Laetitia Casta) threatens to expose his business and personal failings to his wife (Susan Sarandon), his ethically minded daughter (Brit Marling) and a detective (Tim Roth) snooping around the case.

“Arbitrage” piles on the ethical dilemmas, particularly as a young man (Nate Parker), whose role is hard to describe without spoiling things, gets involved. But Gere hasn’t had a role this satisfying in a very long time, and “Arbitrage” is a satisfying adult thriller that doesn’t pander, doesn’t hold your hands and doesn’t answer whatever hard questions it might raise along its very fun ride. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“SLEEPWALK WITH ME”

Comedian and monologuist Mike Birbiglia adapts his popular one-man show and “This American Life” segment into “Sleepwalk With Me,” a warm, funny and honest semi-autobiographical film that gives a glimpse into the working life of a beginning stand-up comic and, as we are told near the film’s beginning, into the failure of a relationship.

Birbiglia stars as himself (well, as Matt Pantamiglio, but you know what’s up), who at the film’s start works part-time at a bar that regularly hosts stand-up comedy and hones what little craft he has when there’s time to fill. His girlfriend (Lauren Ambrose) is supportive, but longs for a more serious commitment. These two threads coincide when Matt draws his first break, such as it is, getting low-paying gigs across the Northeast that require him to be gone for long periods of time and begin to strain his relationship with his girlfriend. And — of course — Matt has to figure out a way to cope with a very odd sleep disorder that leads to a series of escalating and increasing dangerous sleepwalking events.

This very basic description does not really do the keenly observed and delicately written “Sleepwalk With Me” justice, as its power comes from its little moments, whether on the road and bombing as a comic or in the death throes of a relationship at which no one, really, is at fault. Not to make it sound particularly heavy, as it’s also quite funny. $24.98 DVD, $29.98 Blu-ray.

“RED HOOK SUMMER”

“Red Hook Summer” isn’t one of Spike Lee’s most successful films, but it pulses with energy and authenticity of feeling. And you can at least say that every time Lee comes up to the plate, he swings for the fences. Sometimes he strikes out — and terribly — but at least he’s taking a shot for something great, and that’s not something too many filmmakers can claim.

“Red Hook Summer” follows the young Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a teenager shipped up to the Brooklyn neighborhood to spend the summer with his grandfather, Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters of “The Wire” and “Treme”), the pastor of a Baptist church who is as deeply committed to his faith as Flik is not. The two clash with one another as Flik explores the city, meeting a wide cast of characters, such as a young girl (Toni Lysaith) he connects with, a gang member (Nate Parker) he’s told to avoid and a pizza delivery guy named Mookie (Lee) — that’s right, the same character from “Do the Right Thing,” though he just pops up here and there to no consequence.

The consequence comes late in the film surrounding Enoch’s past, and it’s a doozy, bringing some conflict at long last into a film that sort of pleasantly meanders from scene to scene surrounding grandfather, grandson and the cultural divide between them.

Lee’s making all sorts of points here about faith’s place in the black community amid a coming-of-age drama held together by Peters’ fierce performance, and while it’s in the end not terribly satisfying, only Lee could make this film, and I’ll take that any day of the week. $27.97 DVD, $29.97 Blu-ray.

About This Blog

“RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION”

Five movies in and the “Resident Evil” series hasn’t gotten any more coherent, but I guess it hasn’t gotten any less coherent either, so points for consistency, I guess.

“Resident Evil: Retribution,” the latest in the arbitrarily subtitled series, rejoins the laborious franchise following the nefarious Umbrella Corp. and the accidental release of a weaponized virus that has reduced much of the population of the planet to zombified mutants. Only Alice (Milla Jovovich) can stand up to Umbrella, the zombie forces and so forth, which she does here by infiltrating an underwater training facility home to clones of not only herself, but characters from films past (including Michelle Rodriguez and Oded Fehr).

Through massive cityscapes and reconstructed training facilities, Alice and co. fight monsters. That’s about it; the nuances of “Resident Evil: Retribution” sadly blend with the other four equally bewildering movies, which proves that you can, indeed, basically run in place for five straight movies and people will still pay to see it. At least Jovovich keeps drawing a paycheck. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE”

Clint Eastwood returns to being in front of the camera, instead of exclusively behind it, with “Trouble with the Curve,” the first film he’s starred in since 2008’s “Gran Torino” and the first film he’s starred in that he did not also direct since 1993’s “In the Line of Fire.” The director, Robert Lorenz, is Eastwood’s long-time assistant director and producer, and you can tell. So, when you get down to it, “Trouble with the Curve” is an Eastwood film in every meaningful stylistic sense, just without a directorial credit.

Your mileage may vary as to whether that’s a good thing; it’s so unobtrusive as to make no difference for me, to be honest. You come for Eastwood being gruff and co-stars Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake being amiable in a fairly formulaic piece that never coalesces. But there’s no better purpose for “Trouble with the Curve” than to throw it on during a holiday gathering and watch something that won’t offend any member of your family.

Eastwood stars as a long-time scout for Major League Baseball whose eyesight is fading; he enlists his semi-estranged, hard-working lawyer daughter (Adams) to scout a pitcher. She starts a dalliance with another scout (Timberlake) as father and daughter reconcile and come to terms with a life lived around the baseball diamond. It flirts with darkness, but doesn’t go there. Its ending is pat, but not unpleasant. In baseball terms, it’s a solid base hit, I guess. $28.98 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“PITCH PERFECT”

The delightful “Pitch Perfect” is one of the most pleasant surprises of 2012, far funnier than I expected and appealingly cleverer than what could have been the “Glee” knockoff everyone feared. “Pitch Perfect” is anchored by strong work from Anna Kendrick, but a lot of the appeal comes from the supporting cast, featuring a thunderously funny performance from Rebel Wilson, reminiscent of the breakout performance from her “Bridesmaids” co-star Melissa McCarthy, if clearly not quite as popular with audiences. (She’ll get there.)

“Pitch Perfect” follows a women’s university a cappella group stuck in the past with its arrangements and mired in the shadow of the arrogant men’s a cappella group it is constantly in competition with. Kendrick plays Beca, a freshman loner drawn toward the college radio station but reluctantly roped in by the group’s two leaders (Anna Camp and Brittany Snow), who draw together their group of misfits, including Fat Amy (Wilson) and a number of other comical sorts, and finally approach something close to being ­competition-ready.

Meanwhile, Beca is drawn to Jesse (Skylar Astin), a member of the dreaded competing group. Sure, that’s a touch formulaic, if that bugs you, and it usually would bug me, but the jokes are funny and performance scenes are entertaining. What more could you want out of “Pitch Perfect?” $29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray.

“TOTAL RECALL”

It’s hard to think of a more useless remake in recent memory than “Total Recall,” which strips the character away from Paul Verhoeven’s (admittedly silly) adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” and reduces it to distended, anonymous modern action garbage. “Total Recall” may not be the worst film of 2012, but it’s certainly the least essential, and you will gain nothing from watching it even if you haven’t seen Verhoeven’s film. And if you do decide to watch it, I hope you can endure it, particularly in this “extended cut” the Blu-ray threatens to unleash upon us all.

Colin Farrell stars as Quaid, a factory worker living in a dystopic Earth, in which the haves live in Britain and the have-nots live in Australia, the two remaining inhabitable spots on the planet and accessible to one another via a massive elevator that travels through the planet’s core. (That’s already a ton of boring setup that ends up not really being important.)

Quaid seeks a respite from his life, so he seeks out Rekall, a company that implants false memories into the human brain so you can have memories of a vacation or adventure without actually experiencing them. But something happens during the procedure, and Quaid discovers his name is Hauser, he is a spy for a resistance group and his wife (Kate Beckinsale) is actually an enemy spy sent to guard him.

He heads out on the run, determined to find out which version of reality is real, through unimaginative cityscapes that crib from “Blade Runner,” “Minority Report” and, well, the original “Total Recall,” over the course of an unimaginably long running time that couldn’t be any more repetitive. It’s ironic that “Total Recall” ends up being something so obviously familiar. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“PREMIUM RUSH”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt may feature in his fair share of serious-minded films this year, among them “Looper,” “Lincoln” and “The Dark Knight Rises” (as serious a film about Batman as you’ll ever see, anyway), but he breaks that mold, such as it is, with “Premium Rush,” which is for all intents and purposes a live-action cartoon, and I sincerely mean that as a compliment.

A lot of people often talk about wanting to “turn their brain off” when watching a movie. I don’t like that phrase, but I get the impulse. I find myself drawn to movies that will allow you to “turn your brain off” without, well, without actually doing that, and this is one such film, which is nothing but propulsive action, but clever, tongue-in-cheek, funny and with a sense of style that’s a bit different from films of its type. So even if it’s kind of dumb — and it certainly is — it’s presented by smart people who know it’s dumb and know what they’re doing with it.

Gordon-Levitt stars as Wilee (like the coyote), a bike messenger in Manhattan who speeds up and down the island day in and day out carrying messages. One such cargo draws the attention of a crooked cop (Michael Shannon, hamming it up), and the chase begins. There are complications, of course, but otherwise “Premium Rush” is what the title promises, a breath of adrenaline-fueled, unpretentious fresh air. $30.99 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray.

“DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS”

A third film in the children’s farce series is a film too far, as this chapter in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise, based on a very popular series of books, isn’t as successful at mining laughs out of the awkward adolescence of its pretty unlikable young protagonist, Greg Heffley.

In fact, young Greg finds himself mired in increasingly difficult situations in “Dog Days,” set during a summer vacation in which he has to contend with the expectations of his parents (Steve Zahn and Racheal Harris, thanklessly reprising their roles), his goofy friend (Robert Capron) who can get him into an exclusive country club and the girl (Peyton List) he has a crush on.

All Greg wants to do is sit around all summer and play video games, but needless to say, happenstance prevents this from ever being successful, with a disastrous trip to an amusement park, an alienating encounter with his friend’s parents and one swimming pool mishap after another.

Of course, Greg doesn’t seem to do himself any favors, coming across as self-centered and annoying more often than not, but he’s inevitably punished for it, which makes it kind of a cautionary tale, albeit a shrill one without many genuine laughs in its episodic, sitcom structure. $29.98 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“KILLER JOE”

Saddled with an NC-17 rating and coming from a director with a tendency to stare unflinchingly at brutality, William Friedkin’s “Killer Joe” is a bleak, hilarious dark comedy that almost no one saw, which might be for all the better. Should your sensibilities line up with this film’s (and, subsequently, my) dark sense of humor, you’ll probably enjoy it a great deal.

Based on a play by Tracy Letts, who also wrote this film’s screenplay, “Killer Joe” as a title refers to a police detective (Matthew McConaughey) who moonlights as a contract killer, if the price is right. He’s contacted by a young redneck, Chris (Emile Hirsch), who, with his idiotic father (Thomas Haden Church) and trashy stepmother (Gina Gershon), hires Joe to kill his mother for the insurance payout to pay off some other lowlifes he owes money to. Unfortunately, he won’t have enough to pay Joe until the deed is done, so Joe takes as a retainer Chris’s sister, Dottie (Juno Temple).

Things go predictably awry, erupting in a climax where “Killer Joe” earns its NC-17 rating with an intense scene of unsettling violence (and you will never look at fried chicken the same way again). Lest you think it’s constantly dark, the film is enlivened by Letts’ crackling dialogue and the pitch-black comedy (Church is the dumbest character you’ve seen in a film in a long time). McConaughey gives perhaps his best performance here ever, though, as paradoxically the character with the strongest moral compass in the whole film, despite being an insane hitman. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“ARBITRAGE”

In a year in which issues surrounding class and the very rich played a prominent role in discussions, a film like “Arbitrage” is well-timed, a twisty thriller following a morally dubious billionaire as he worms his way through a number of increasingly difficult situations. What’s more interesting is that, as portrayed by Richard Gere (in, no matter your opinion of the actor, what’s hard to deny is perfect casting), you kind of want him to get away with it.

Gere plays Robert Miller, a hedge fund manager on the verge of selling his company and presenting a very positive public front in order to do so, particularly as any scrutiny would reveal his books were cooked to present a more positive impression of his company’s worth and wealth. The sales value is worth far more than the actual value of the company, and he would most certainly be arrested for fraud if an audit were made public. The deal seems likely to be closed, though, and Miller seems likely to get away with it, but a sudden incident involving Miller’s mistress (Laetitia Casta) threatens to expose his business and personal failings to his wife (Susan Sarandon), his ethically minded daughter (Brit Marling) and a detective (Tim Roth) snooping around the case.

“Arbitrage” piles on the ethical dilemmas, particularly as a young man (Nate Parker), whose role is hard to describe without spoiling things, gets involved. But Gere hasn’t had a role this satisfying in a very long time, and “Arbitrage” is a satisfying adult thriller that doesn’t pander, doesn’t hold your hands and doesn’t answer whatever hard questions it might raise along its very fun ride. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“SLEEPWALK WITH ME”

Comedian and monologuist Mike Birbiglia adapts his popular one-man show and “This American Life” segment into “Sleepwalk With Me,” a warm, funny and honest semi-autobiographical film that gives a glimpse into the working life of a beginning stand-up comic and, as we are told near the film’s beginning, into the failure of a relationship.

Birbiglia stars as himself (well, as Matt Pantamiglio, but you know what’s up), who at the film’s start works part-time at a bar that regularly hosts stand-up comedy and hones what little craft he has when there’s time to fill. His girlfriend (Lauren Ambrose) is supportive, but longs for a more serious commitment. These two threads coincide when Matt draws his first break, such as it is, getting low-paying gigs across the Northeast that require him to be gone for long periods of time and begin to strain his relationship with his girlfriend. And — of course — Matt has to figure out a way to cope with a very odd sleep disorder that leads to a series of escalating and increasing dangerous sleepwalking events.

This very basic description does not really do the keenly observed and delicately written “Sleepwalk With Me” justice, as its power comes from its little moments, whether on the road and bombing as a comic or in the death throes of a relationship at which no one, really, is at fault. Not to make it sound particularly heavy, as it’s also quite funny. $24.98 DVD, $29.98 Blu-ray.

“RED HOOK SUMMER”

“Red Hook Summer” isn’t one of Spike Lee’s most successful films, but it pulses with energy and authenticity of feeling. And you can at least say that every time Lee comes up to the plate, he swings for the fences. Sometimes he strikes out — and terribly — but at least he’s taking a shot for something great, and that’s not something too many filmmakers can claim.

“Red Hook Summer” follows the young Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a teenager shipped up to the Brooklyn neighborhood to spend the summer with his grandfather, Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters of “The Wire” and “Treme”), the pastor of a Baptist church who is as deeply committed to his faith as Flik is not. The two clash with one another as Flik explores the city, meeting a wide cast of characters, such as a young girl (Toni Lysaith) he connects with, a gang member (Nate Parker) he’s told to avoid and a pizza delivery guy named Mookie (Lee) — that’s right, the same character from “Do the Right Thing,” though he just pops up here and there to no consequence.

The consequence comes late in the film surrounding Enoch’s past, and it’s a doozy, bringing some conflict at long last into a film that sort of pleasantly meanders from scene to scene surrounding grandfather, grandson and the cultural divide between them.

Lee’s making all sorts of points here about faith’s place in the black community amid a coming-of-age drama held together by Peters’ fierce performance, and while it’s in the end not terribly satisfying, only Lee could make this film, and I’ll take that any day of the week. $27.97 DVD, $29.97 Blu-ray.